No one wanted to bring up a certain subject at all.
As I arrived in Milwaukee a day after a 20-year-old tried to kill Donald Trump, I expected the mood to be tense. The first thing I saw downtown at 9 a.m. Monday outside the Republican National Convention was a large sign placed by the city by a part of the road closed for construction that read “Project Funded by President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.” Biden’s name had been scribbled out with black marker. I crossed one of the many small bridges that had been closed to vehicular traffic by law enforcement to secure the area where the convention was being held. Beneath the bridges, police boats patrolled the Milwaukee River. I held my breath as I approached the security checkpoint.
Almost instantly, I realized I had read the room all wrong. The law enforcement and volunteers manning the entryway had me through a bag scan and a metal detector in seconds. The mood was not tense—it was almost chipper. Once inside, I was again surprised by the jubilance of the many attendees of the convention. Red hats crowned smiling faces as attendees giddily rushed toward the arena to secure their places in line to get inside and escape the heat. The mood seemed to sour only when the line didn’t move. Delegates and guests became disgruntled. “Let us in!” one shouted ,as a security guard shrugged. He ignored her.
I made conversation with a Missouri delegate while we waited. She raised her white jacket above her head, jokingly offering to block the sun for both of us. “I’m excited. I’m encouraged. Everyone is pumped,” she said of the energy inside the compound. Narrowing her gaze, she asked me who I was voting for. I deflected, asking about the assassination attempt on Trump. She paused. “I thought about Melania and how hard that would be for her,” she said. “It was a miracle that his head turned when it did.
